This invention relates to shredding machines and particularly to a shredder which is suitable for shredding a variety of materials and does so while operating at a low speed.
Machines for shredding material are well known in the art. Particularly, a machine known as a "hammer hog" is frequently used to reduce the size of waste material prior to disposing of the material, generally by burning as fuel. A hammer hog utilizes a pair of counter rotating shafts having teeth thereon which chew material to a reduced size. Hammer hogs are subject to frequent breakdowns, require a great deal of energy to operate, and are generally very noisy, to the extent that persons in the vicinity of the hammer hog must wear ear protection devices to prevent permanent hearing loss.
An object of the instant invention is to provide a shredder which is energy efficient.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide a shredder which operates at a low operating speed.
A further object of the invention is to provide a shredder which does not produce hazardous sound levels during operation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a shredder which will operate continuously for long periods of time without requiring maintenance.
Another object of the invention is to provide a shredding apparatus which is completely self-contained and which may be easily moved from one location to another.
Yet another object of the instant invention is to provide a shredding apparatus having shredding teeth and a shredding anvil which cooperate to draw material to be shred towards a tooth carrying arbor.
The shredder of the instant invention includes a housing for receiving material to be shred and an arbor carrying plural teeth thereon mounted in the housing. An anvil is provided, having plural grating members, interspersed with the teeth on the arbor, to shred material which is introduced into the housing. The teeth are fixed on the arbor in a helical pattern with each tooth being angularly displaced with respect to the next laterally adjacent tooth.
These and other objects and advantages of the instant invention will become more fully apparent as the description which follows is read in conjunction with the drawings.